Ft. Morgan, Alabama

We just got back from a trip to the beach. We are normally Destin people, but decided to try something new and went to Ft. Morgan, AL. It is about 20 min. from Gulf Shores. Nathan's sister did a great job of planning and found us all a great beach house that had beautiful views and plenty of space. Thank you Jennifer!
I posted these first 2 pictures because I was so amazed at how well Maddie and Will handled the trip down. They were happy and just sort of hung out even when we got stuck in traffic for 2 hours in Gulf Shores!
Here's Madeline with her twin babies, Allie and Annie.

Here's Will with his trusty side-kicks, Chloe (named after our black dog) and Cookie Monster.

Here are all of the girls that came to the beach. Nathan's sister Jennifer, her daughter Carly, Nathan's mom Donna, me, Madeline, and Nathan's brother's wife Mary Martha. We were all dressed up to go to dinner.

Here are all the cousins on the Henry side, lined up by height: Will, Madeline, Neill, Jay, Carly, and Nicholas. We missed the oldest cousin, Katelyn, but understand that she had some important stuff going on at home in Fayetteville.

Here is Nathan with his parents and brother and sister. It is rare to get their family together for a picture and I thought this one turned out pretty well.

This was both kids first time at the beach. We weren't sure how they would like the ocean and sand but they loved it! Nathan had fun burying Maddie in the sand to create a mermaid look. The tail lacked detail because Maddie, much like her Mama, has some claustrophobic issues and couldn't stand to buried for that long:)

Neill was much more tolerant:) Nathan first dug a hole in the sand that was deep enough for him to stand up in and then buried him up to his neck. It was so fun and cute!

My kids did so well at the beach, that I got some great sunning time and even read the 1st 2 Twilight Books in 3 days!

Nathan and his fair skin was the only one to get any kind of sun burn, so he did less sunning and more playing with the kids in the ocean and sand. Here he is under the trustly umbrella.

For some reason, some of my pictures turned out hazy and I am no Photoshop pro, so sorry! Will was entertained by the most random things on this trip. This day, he played with a snorkel for a long time and was happy as a clam!

Madeline did not want to go to far into the ocean but was so content to play at the edge. She could not get enough of this!

Here is another fun random beach toy: A bungee cord and the pole of the umbrella. This occupied Will for about 45 min. I love the background of this picture and how precious he looks!

Overall, it was a fantastic trip and we really enjoyed getting to spend more time with Nathan's family. I can't wait to take the kids back again, now that we know how much they love it:)

Will Has Big Boy Hair!

Will has not had any kind of a haircut since he was born. He will be 2 on July 27. This is strange for us as Madeline has always had a lot of hair and had her first haircut at 6 months! In the past six months or so, he has grown some beautiful curls that we really enjoyed. But, the curls are starting to get out of control, especially in our South Arkansas humidity and heat!
Here is the side view of the curls:

Here is the back view. If he was a girl, he would probably have beautiful ringlets:)

So, yesterday, we took him to my salon and had our friend, Michelle, give him his first haircut. He was not into it at all. He had to sit in my lap and needed a sucker just to get through.
After getting the sucker, he did pretty well until she pulled out the clippers to trim up the sides and back. At that point, Nathan had to just hold his head still and let him cry. But, it was over quickly and I could not believe how much older he looked!
Here is the side view:

and here is the back view. I miss the pretty curls but also think the big boy look is just adorable! I may be biased, but I just think he is the most handsome little boy:)

Happy 4th of July!

I love my country and want to teach my children to do the same. Nathan let me sleep in this morning as I have been getting up early to exercise before it gets so hot. When I came into the family room, Madeline told me all about what the 4th of July celebrated and it was so cute to hear her version.
Later, we headed to our high school football stadium where a cute little festival was set up. It was typical for a small southern town: an antique car show, a few jewelry booths, snow cones, a patriotic pet show, and a few booths with games. Maddie and Will played a fishing game and this was Will's chosen prize. I'm sure it will provide lots of fun around our house for the next few days. I love the look on his face here. It is so typical of the "Mine!" toddler phase he is in.


Next, we hit the face painting booth. Will will not let someone paint on his face, so we gave Maddie her dollar and she went up to the booth. She was a little undecided about what to get.
Our local Camp Fire girls were the painters and they were so sweet and really took their time to make it look cute. Maddie did a great job of being really still.

Here is the final product. Red, White, and Blue stars for the occasion.

They also had a great time jumping on one of those jumping castles. It was Will's first time and we weren't sure what he would think, but he loved it and we had a hard time getting him off once their time was up. I tried to get a good picture but my camera does not do well with action shots. I'll have to see if my dad's camera did any better.

We left after about an hour because it was getting pretty hot and headed home. But these happy faces show just how much fun they had celebrating!